Another outbreak of bird flu was confirmed at a duck farm in South Jeolla Province, Friday.
The government said ducks at the farm in Yeongam tested positive for the virulent strain of the H5N1 avian influenza.
This comes just one week after outbreaks of the highly contagious bird disease in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, and Cheonan, North Chungcheong Province on Dec. 31, raising concerns that the disease may be spreading across the country.
The country has already been grappling for more than two months with the fast-spreading foot-and-mouth disease.
Quarantine officials said initial on-site tests confirmed that the ducks in the latest case were infected with the H5N1 strain. All 14,500 birds on the farm and 84,400 birds on four other farms within a 500-meter radius from the outbreak have been ordered to be culled as a precautionary measure.
South Korea had been hit by avian influenza three times before.
Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.